Good Times

I was in the midst of sorting out old work when I found this old photo my friend Greg took of me. This was when I was still at art school, making all these crazy wacky sculptures. Such good times. I can't believe it's been 2 years already. Time flies! And yup, 2 years on, I still am obsessed with food! Hah!

30% Off All Art Prints!

Hello all! I'm offering a 30% sale on all art prints from my shop. Only till this Sunday. Enter HOORAY upon checkout to redeem. Thank you! Visit www.handmadelove.bigcartel.com to shop! Have a nice weekend ahead. XO, Dawn

A few more photos from my little tie-dye project. Unfortunately, the colours faded a little bit. It's now more of a faded, light purple, lavender scarf. Oh well. It's alright! I like it the way it is now anyway. I'm in the midst of looking for Indigo powder. I want to try my hand at the shibori method of dyeing fabrics! Just look at this here. Makes me feel all dreamy. Not sure where to get indigo dyes from though. Any advice, anyone?

Evening Tie-dye Session

I have been itching to do some dyeing for a while now. And all this happened an hour ago. I finally went down to Lindcraft and bought supplies. I am dreaming of making more! Especially some silky crepe ones. Some darker blue, fushia and indigo scarves. What do you think? I think it'll be fun!

Rainbow Connection

 

I woke up extra early this morning, after suffering an entire evening of migraine. I decided, well... It's a Saturday. Darren's fast asleep. I've got a million and one things to do. So what a perfect way to get down to working on some freelance painting. So that was exactly what I did. Unfortunately, within about 1/2 hour, I got distracted and jumped for joy when I found out one of my favourite Melbourne shops, Third Drawer Down, was doing a giveaway. Ooh! How exciting! Prize at stake was this AH-MAZING Mike Mills Rainbow Pillowcase set. Something which I've wanted ever since I first saw it online. So yes, my heart skipped 10 beats, I jumped around in my little room, going "Oh my! Oh my!" And then after calming myself down, I started reading. The problem was, in order to win, I had to be the first one down at the shop and wait for this... I had to sing out loud Kermit's Rainbow Song! HOW EMBARRASSING!

So, long story short, I pulled Darren out of bed and down we went. (Of course! It's a Limited Editioned Mike Wills Pillowcase we're talking about! I'm pretty sure I can put aside any shyness for that!) I shamelessly presented myself at the shop, 11am sharp. Thank goodness no one was there yet. So in my state of embarrassment and giddy excitement, I sang and jumbled up all my lyrics, but I still won. Hooray! I probably made up my own Rainbow lyrics, but whatever, hey! It's called Effort!

 So two things I take away from today:
1. Waking up early on weekends is always a good thing.
2. Whenever you're sick in bed and down with a massive headache of sorts, don't fret.
 A rainbow will come your way the very next day!

TRUE SELF

Thanks to my super awesome agency - Jacky Winter, I got the opportunity to work alongside one of my favourite artists, Caitlin Shearer! Melbourne’s GPO has joined forces with The Jacky Winter Group to present ‘True Self’, a charity exhibition that links fashion and art in the manner of a chain letter. Multiple artists are stepping up to collaborate with each other to create A3-sized artworks which will be on show on the first floor at MGPO in June.

With the theme of chain-mail at the heart of the concept, The Jacky Winter Group will send each artboard out to an artist who will in turn send it onto another. After each artist has left their mark, the artist board will be returned back to MGPO and then exhibited at ‘True Self’. The concept will see 52 of Australia’s finest creatives take part, and will showcase their skills in varying disciplines including fine art, illustration, photography and fashion design. The artworks will draw from themes such as self-image and transformation, and will be on display from June 1 to 24, 2012.

 The originals on display will be available for sale throughout the duration of the exhibition for AUD $200 each. All proceeds will go to the charity Fitted for Work – a not-for-profit initiative, providing clothing and training to help disadvantaged women find employment. To date they have transformed the lives of more than 6500 women. I am so glad I got to take part! Nothing beats making art and knowing it'll benefit someone else : ) For this exhibition, I've also collaborated with the very clever Karena Colquhoun. Have you seen Karena's work before? It's so cute, and so retro. I love it lots!

When I found out I was sending my piece to Karena, I immediately started painting lots of roses. Not sure why, but her work has inspired me to think about retro valentines day and the idea of love and happiness. I kept smiling while painting, it felt so good! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a proper picture. So for now, instagram ones will have to do. Can't wait to see what Karena and everyone else has done! Read more about True Self here!

Magic

I'm finding it really hard to keep up with things these days. For the first time ever in my life, I'm feel like I'm totally tested mentally and I can't keep up with life. Have you ever had moments like that? When all you can think of is to give up? I've been going through feeling like that for a while now. I find myself questioning everyday why am I doing what I'm doing now. I enjoy teaching, a whole lot. But it's a tough job. I've been teaching on and off for about 9 years now. I still love it, and dream of having my own art room and students one day. But this uni course is making it so tough, it's taking away the joy all together. I struggle to stay afloat and on top of everything. Honestly, my goal for this year is to just get through and finish my course. I'm not even after good grades. I'm just aiming for passes. I'm on the verge of quitting uni all together. But I know if I do quit, I won't ever get to become a proper classroom teacher. In order to become a fully qualified teacher, I need to first complete this degree, before I can get registered. Sigh.

 Anyway, deflation aside, I've been really blessed by wonderful friends sending me nice little magic parcels. See the two necklaces above? They were sent to me by the very talented Bonnie Jean (What a cute name!) Previously from Melbourne, Bonnie's been in Auckland for almost a year, working as textile/print designer for Karen Walker. Bonnie painted these necklaces by hand and sent them both to me a while ago. I've been wearing it so much, it goes with so many different dresses of mine. For some reason, I always feel a little bit braver when wearing the purple. Haha! And I love how glittery the second one is. Feels like magic! Thank you so super much Bonnie for being so nice!

 If you're ever interested in getting yourself a necklace, do drop Bonnie an email. You can reach her at bonniejeanmooney@hotmail.com. Oh and Bonnie's also on Instagram too! Her username's bonniejeanm. Go follow her. She always has such cute DIY nail pictures along with yummy colourful bits and pieces!

Teaching Boys

The reason why I've slowed down so much with blogging is mainly because I've been extremely busy the past couple of weeks. As part of my graduate teaching degree, I've been placed at an all boys school to teach. It has been such a learning journey and my goodness. Teaching boys! Hah! All I can say is, I was really terrified at first. I've never ever taught all boys before so I went in to the school all mentally prepared thinking: "I can do this... I can do this..Oh please, let me survive!" And phew! I have done it! And I am still alive! Teaching in this school where I'm at, has officially changed my opinions on teaching in an all boys school. All the boys have been nothing but sweet to me.

Over the past 5 weeks, I've been slowly building relationships with the boys. Now, they can't stop talking when they see me. They belt out songs with my name in it. They run after me and give me surprise hugs even though I say no hugging. They pop in to the art room every recess and lunch break to chat. They ask me all sorts of questions about Darren. They use lame pick up lines and awwww at everything I say. And they LOVE IT TO BITS when I take photos with them. I get showered everyday with "I love yous.. You're the best!... You're such a star.. we like you...You're so nice... can you stay..... PLEASSSEEEEE" The list is endless. The year 9s in particular, exhausted all their pick up lines today. Haha. " Oh Dawn! Is your instagram username Dawnstar? Cause you're such a superstar? " HAHA. Lame! But cute! They have like the worst pick up lines I tell you. It's hilarious! One boy told me today he treated a girl to water at Macdonalds and it worked! Oh boys. They're funny and they amuse me to no end. Thank goodness they are such multi-taskers though. They can actually paint and chat at the same time! Amazing.

This week is officially my last week at the school. I'm returning next week for 2 days but will not be teaching them. I am going to miss them oh so much!

I apologise for the quality of these photos. Didn't want to use my good camera! Especially when I know it'll be touched by lots of grubby fingers!

Shop Update

Surprise! I will be updating my online shop with my new berry silk scarves tomorrow evening, at about 6pm Melbourne time. There will be only 3 scarves available. They're super exclusive!

Photos taken by my good friend Lydia Teh. Lydia takes beautiful photos, if you're ever in need of a photographer, you might want to consider contacting her!